


One Person Who Learned Dan Vassar's Secret

by bessemerprocess



Category: Journeyman
Genre: Gen, Mental Health Issues, References to Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-28
Updated: 2008-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-05 13:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/pseuds/bessemerprocess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Theresa doesn't really care if Dan Vasser is schizophrenic at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Person Who Learned Dan Vassar's Secret

Theresa works with emotionally disturbed people all the time. Homeless people who wander into the ER when it gets cold, lawyers who think they can fly, vets so hyperaware they can't function, teenagers who have cut themselves to ribbons. An urban ER is like a battlefield and nothing surprises Theresa anymore.

She took the test this morning, but she'd already known. It wasn't in her plan. That grand five year plan: a loving husband, a house in the suburbs and maybe a black lab to greet her at the door after work. Instead she has a cop in love with his work, his crazy family, and a tiny studio near the hospital. At least she isn't a resident anymore.

It wasn't in her plan, but she'd keep the baby anyway. Jack could stay or go. She'd been raised by a single mother and she could raise her child alone if need be. Maybe he'd stick around. He is good with his nephew; maybe he'll be good with a child of his own.

Theresa has watched children die: from cancer, from accidents, by their own parent's hand. She has fought for them, breathed for them, and then told their parents she had done everything she could. Death isn't the only way to lose a child in her ER. She has helped parents commit their own children, has stitched up parents whose children had attacked them, has pumped more stomachs full of Tylenol and Valium than she ever wants to recount. She has stood by as parents switched off their son's life support and then stood with them as they watched his husk continue to breath, but nothing else. They had cut him down in their own garage, they'd turned their backs for less than five minutes, and their son would never do anything but breathe and eat again.

She really had just wanted a sweater. Everyone snoops, and the master bath had been more than enough temptation. She doesn't really care if Dan is schizophrenic or bipolar or a junkie. She just wants to know up front if she's going to have to carry her baby into the ER one day with self inflicted wounds.

Jack catches her, and she tried to explain, haltingly, exactly what she'd been doing, snooping in his baby brother's bathroom for meds. She doesn't tell him about Devon Carroll, her first dead patient, back in her residency: not even fourteen, self inflicted gunshot wound to the head, even if that's what she's thinking about. She doesn't want to scare him off yet.

* * *

Andy is three days old when Theresa finally finds out Dan Vasser's secret. Jack is on a triple homicide when her apartment starts flooding. She calls maintenance, who swears they'll be there in twenty minutes. An hour later, every bowl in her apartment is full of water and there's no sign of maintenance coming anytime soon, so she calls Katie. All she gets is voicemail, so she calls Dan next.

Andy is screaming in the background and Dan drops whatever he was doing and comes to rescue them. While she's waiting she paces the sidewalk, hoping Andy will calm down and stop crying. She's not really good at the whole baby thing yet, and Andy is whimpering when Dan arrives. He gets the car seat hooked in like a pro, and by the time Andy is in the seat he's fast asleep. Theresa takes the passenger seat, thanking Dan profusely.

They take the back roads, Dan never drives on the highway, and the trip is uneventful. They chatter about babies and lack of sleep until they pull into the Vasser's driveway. Dan puts the car into park and then clutches at his head.

"Dan, are you okay?" she asks, panic rising in her chest. She's been told not to count on Dan. Dan runs off, Dan has delusions, Dan is not dependable. She hasn't heard it in months, not since Dan had gotten himself shot and made up with Jack. But Theresa's baby is in the car and Dan looks like he's going to have a seizure or an episode and she can't help but kick herself.

"Look," Dan says quickly, handing her his key ring, "That's the house key. Don't panic." Then there is a flash of light and Dan is gone. Theresa sits in the car, stunned. It never occurred to her when Jack said Dan disappeared he meant it literally.


End file.
